Rule change after Ian Wright racism row following tweet by Hampshire county councillor

The changes come as a result of the ‘racist’ comments made by Cllr Alexis McEvoy on X, formerly Twitter, in which she called the former Arsenal footballer Ian Wright a “typical black hypocrite”. During Hampshire County Council’s annual general meeting in May 2023, two months after the now-deleted post was made, an all-party motion was presented proposing several anti-racism actions to be taken.

Members voted unanimously in favour of the motion. One proposal included the appointment of an anti-racism champion for Hampshire County Council, which leader Rob Humby announced would be Cllr Arun Mummalaneni. Other proposals involved the amendment of the county council’s arrangements for dealing with the “assessment, investigation and determination of complaints” when members had failed to comply with the code of conduct about racist or discriminatory comments.

As the motion requested, the Hampshire County Council’s conduct advisory panel reviewed the legislation and concluded that an extra section should be included in the arrangements. Section 12.4 will now establish that when the hearing panel has found a member breached the code of conduct by having expressed what the panel considers to be racist or “unlawfully discriminatory beliefs in public”, it will be able to tell them to “consider resigning from office”.

Through the process and before coming to a final decision, the person could present their representation to the panel and could seek external legal advice, if needed, which will not be paid by the county council. The panel’s final recommendation to the council can’t be appealed as it does not include the right to appeal.

Lib Dem Councillor Gavin James expressed his concerns about the filtering process and how comments can be interpreted from different points of view and, as a result, a “pile of people saying that it is racist”. Cllr James said: “I’m aware that when you go on to X, you get some quite extreme opinions, and so I can see a scenario when someone comments on the general election year about immigration. Some perceive that as racist from a political viewpoint. As a result, we get a pile of people saying that it is racist. Then, you get a complaint to the council, which the panel obviously will determine. Still, if you try to assemble three county councillors at the same time, it is not an easy thing to do. So, how is the filtering process?”

Paul Hodgson, the council’s head of legal services, said the code of conduct only applies when the councillor is “effectively acting in the course of the role as councillor”. He added: “If a councillor says something on Twitter but not in the role as a councillor, that mostly will not engage the code of conduct at all.”

Cllr James asked the officer that in the case of Cllr McEvoy and the comment she made on her private personal account, the changes introduced would not resolve the issue since the breach would only be taken into consideration if they were made as her role of county councillor. Mr Hodgson said: “That’s correct. That’s what it currently stands for. That would not proceed into a code of conduct complaint.”

Since her X publication, Cllr McEvoy has apologised to the former player, which was received as a “fake apology”. In an angry response, Wright hit back at the councillor, saying: “There is one person that I want to address directly: the Hampshire councillor Alexis McEvoy. I just want to say to her: please just keep your fake apology to yourself.”

Cllr McEvoy quit numerous public roles, including her affiliation to the Conservative Party, but still sits on the county council as an unaffiliated member and participates in different committees such as the Corporate Parenting Board and the River Hamble Harbour Management Committee.